FSU's spring practice wraps up next Tuesday, April 15. There's no spring game this year -- Norvell canceled it for the second straight season, a move that's become increasingly common across Power 4 programs. Instead, the Seminoles have used three closed scrimmages to evaluate the roster. The third and final scrimmage this weekend will be the last time the coaching staff sees live contact before summer arrives. And the day after spring practice ends, the transfer portal opens on April 16. The timing is not a coincidence -- and it should shape how you read everything that happens this week.
Think about it from the coaching staff's perspective. They have three practices left to finalize their evaluation of a roster that includes 50 newcomers -- 24 true freshmen and 23 transfers. That's an enormous amount of new talent to assess in just 15 sessions. Scrimmage #3 isn't just a football game. It's the final exam. Who gets first-team reps in this last scrimmage could signal who the staff believes in heading into the offseason. And the portal opening immediately after gives FSU the opportunity to address any remaining gaps that spring practice exposed -- or to lose players who didn't find the role they expected.
On the positive side, this spring has revealed more than enough talent to be optimistic. The defense dominated Scrimmage #2 and Tony White's unit has a clear identity. Freshmen Devin Carter and Jasen Lopez have already earned Norvell's public endorsement as players who "are going to play." The running back room is four deep. The defensive line can rotate seven or eight bodies. The culture inside the building has been cleaned up. These are all real developments, not spin. The remaining questions -- quarterback, center, cornerback, the second wideout -- are position battles, not roster emergencies. That's a meaningful distinction from where this program was a year ago.
Saturday's final scrimmage will put a bow on spring 2026. Then the real chess match begins as the portal opens and the staff shifts to summer preparation. But based on what we've seen over five weeks of practice and two scrimmages, FSU is leaving spring camp in a fundamentally better position than it entered. The talent is real. The depth is real. The culture shift is real. Now they just need the results to follow.